The present invention relates to a method of processing data to search for and to assist with choosing objects from a set of objects stored in the form of records in a data processing system, wherein each object is associated with the value of each of several attributes, as well as a data processing and man/machine interface system for implementing the method.
Hereinafter, the term “object” designates any material or non-material entity that can be described by a number of attributes, also referred to hereinafter as containers, which attributes can have one of several given values referred to also as contents. In an ordinary database, all of the attributes or containers are common to all the records and the information from a record consists of the list of the associated values. These databases are searched using keywords, crossed criteria, etc. In very many cases, searching conventional databases can yield no response or too many responses.
Thus, to find a web site on the Internet, it is necessary to consult search engines which either give no response or offer thousands or tens of thousands of responses. The user, faced with a long list of responses, is not able to refine the query and furthermore does not know how pertinent the responses offered can be expected to be.